Confined By Darkness
by Sora Mad
Summary: Lucy knows that she can count on Natsu to be there when she needs him... but what happens when he shows up a little too late on the night she needs him most? (Re-write of 'Enraptured By Darkness')


_**Chapter One- That Night**_

It wasn't unusual for Lucy to be traveling home alone from the guild, though this night did strike her as a little odd. She was almost positive the feeling was because of the party they'd had back at the guild. It was a full on celebration of the birth of Fairy Tail, so of course the night ended with more than half of the guild passed out on the floor due to fatigue as well as —and most likely— the alcohol.

This night was particularly dark with all of the fog; the air near impossible to breathe in… or perhaps it was her lungs that didn't want to allow the necessity into her body. Despite the circumstance, her own feet continued to carry her through the thickening fog in hope that the apartment would be free of intruders for once. She could only imagine the amount of work she could get done without someone constantly searching through her underwear drawers and reading purposely hidden letters to her mother.

Amidst her wandering thoughts, the air seemed to close in —seemingly trapping Lucy in the middle of it. She felt the familiar feeling of panic begin to arise in her chest. It restricted every part of her body from moving, heartbeat growing faster at the sudden event.

What was happening?

Breath became quicker than before, the fear clear just by the sound of it. Head swiftly turned at a sudden profound scrape —against what she assumed was the surrounding pavement— emitting from the fog. The clear noise slowly escalated to rhythmic steps; one right after another, growing dangerously close to where Lucy was. A shadow of a person was becoming visible, though not quite clear enough to make out who. There was a low, tuneless hum.

The blonde's back hit a wall and she gasped, not knowing she'd been moving her feet at all. Hands instinctively reached for the clutter of keys usually weighing down her hip, fingers soughting out protection for the rest of her, only to find the belt naked of their presence. Her knees grew weak realizing that if this person's goal were to murder her —viciously torture her body and leave it in the streets to bleed to death— it would happen without much of a fight.

"Who are you?" came her terrified voice, just below a scream. The shadow stopped moving, all noise ceasing along with it. And soon Lucy was aware of where the unknown person stood. Her hands instinctively flew out to shield the rest of her body.

"Lucy Heartfilia… correct?" came a voice that seemed to shake the air. So it was a man... still vague. But she figured that knowing the details of his appearance wouldn't matter after a few moments when her body lie motionless in the streets.

"What do you want from me?" she whispered, voice shaking from fear, yet still monotone in defeat as if she were already destined to die.

The man's hand seemingly appeared out of nowhere, grabbing ahold of Lucy's outlying wrist and tugging it towards himself to study the pink guild mark. The sudden closeness allowed his face to be visible. Lucy's body tensed; readying itself for potential pain… but to her surprise there was none. After moments of waiting there was still nothing... Nothing aside from the man's eerily low hum.

"You want to know what I want from you?" he said, voice gravelly. Lucy's eyes widened after somehow hitting -and ending up pressed against- the brick wall. "Ever heard of the Lumen Histoire?"

"I've never heard of it." She tried to keep her voice firm, succeeding for that small moment; but the man's chuckle changed that. Her body was crushed between his body and the wall, allowing a whimper to escape her lips.

"Don't lie to me now, Miss Heartfilia." She caught a glimpse of the surrounding fog beginning to light up with an unsettling green color. The sight caused her breath to run ragged. Looking back to the man, she half whispered, "I'm not lying… I don't know anything about a 'Lumen Hist-'" Her sentence was cut short as she was shoved — hard— against the brickwork.

"That's not what I wanted to hear," he growled, finally letting the anger and annoyance show of his face. The green fog surrounding them both electrified, showing quick bursts of light every few moments. "You know very well what I'm talking about." The feeling of his hands were at her neck in an instant. "If you want to live, you'll tell me right now."

"Lucy!" came a familiar, distant voice. "Are you out here?" It was then she realized how close to her apartment he must have been. Normally she would have gotten angry at Natsu's being there, but right now she had other things to worry about.

As the man turned to see who had intruded his attack, Lucy took it as an opportunity to escape. "Natsu!" She screamed back, gaining back the enemy's attention instead of who she beckoned. He grasped her shoulders and the next thing she knew she was thrown against the hard concrete; the contact sending a painful feeling up her spine and a scream escaping her lips.

"OI!" Lucy felt an abrupt sense of relief wash through her as she heard Natsu's near vicious voice make it to where she was.

"Another Fairy Tail mage?" The attacker rose from his current position, turning to face Natsu and his angry flames with a grin. "Electric fog slicer!" Lucy's body tensed at the words, seeing the fog form above the man and targeting her pink haired savior. "NATSU, MOVE!"

As if on cue, the dragon slayer sprung out of the unknown magic's way, grunting as he hit the concrete. It was in that movement that the man vanished from their site, another low tune being hummed. Both mages desperately tried to seek out where the tune was coming from, seeing as he had disappeared from their view.

After a few seconds of the irritable music, Natsu's nose caught the passing scent of the attacker; causing the rest of him to immediately acting on instinct. "Fire dragon's claw!"

The exploding flames seemed to rid the air of most of the electric fog it contained, revealing the man —unphased by the attack— as well as his wicked grin. "You're pretty pathetic for a dragon slayer, aren't you?" His eyes narrowed at the now tense pink haired mage. "...Natsu Dragneel. Now there's a name that I never could ignore. You must be more knowledgeable than blondie here." Hand moved from it's still state to gesture to Lucy, who was glaring at him as she leaned against the wall for support. "I wonder… What can you tell me about the Lumen Histoire?"

"Listen, you bastard..." Natsu growled, "I'm gonna make one thing clear; I don't care. You can pick fights with me all you want, but hurting my family is unforgivable." A mass of flames covered his fists once more and he launched his body up into the air, aiming at the enemy. "Fire dragon's wing attack!"

This time the attack phased the attacker; his hand flying into a stop motion to shield the rest of him from the flames. The fog reappeared, circling around his hand and seemingly eating away at the flames. "You made one fatal mistake, Dragneel…" The flames disappeared into the green fog he emitted. "Lending me the power of your flames." With that, he aimed an attack at Natsu. "Electric fire-fog attack!"

Lucy watched wide-eyed as the pink haired mage's body was engulfed by a green mixture of flames and fog. The next thing she heard was the what she believed to be the most terrifying sound to ever have reached her ears:

Natsu's scream.

The pink-haired mage didn't even notice he'd been knocked to the ground due to the burning of his lungs. He screamed and pleaded, hoping the vile stuff would leave his lungs and grant them oxygen instead. He was unable to consider the fear his howls of pain brought to the blonde on the other side; who was eagerly waiting for him to emerge. After a few seconds the screams of pain died down and Lucy panicked.

"...Natsu?" she whispered.

The man walked over to Lucy, roughly grabbing her by the head and slamming it back against the brickwork along with the rest of her body. The green mist dissipated, revealing Natsu's unmoving body and unleashing Lucy's fears.

"NATSU!" She screamed, ignoring the pressure on her head and the strange words the man was mumbling. "GET UP! YOU'RE A FAIRY TAIL WIZARD, AREN'T YOU?" The hot tears that'd been churning in her eyes spilled over and she suddenly felt weak seeing him lying so still. "...Please, Natsu…"

The attacker's mumbling ceased and he released Lucy's head of it's trap to pull away, slowly walking backwards until he reached Natsu's near lifeless body. Once there, he knelt down beside him to grab a fist full of pink hair; tugging until Natsu had a view of his companion. A groan escaped the pinkett's lips at the sudden feeling and he opened his eyes weakly to see the blonde's relieved expression.

"You know what I learned Dragneel?" The attacker said, an element of amusement in his voice. Nasu responded with a grunt, weakly coughing from the pain it brought. "I learned that you have to attack from the inside to get what you want." He brought his lips closer to Natsu's ear. "Watch as I make my first move…"

As if on cue, the blonde let out a painful screech. Natsu's eyes widened, body growing warm from the pent up rage. "S-Stop it... Stop hurting her..." He faintly pleaded; but the man didn't listen. He was holding all the cards —both these mage's lives in hand— and he loved it.

Lucy felt as though someone were splitting her head in half with a burning hot knife. Her vision grew foggy and she fell deaf to her own screaming as a daydream of some sort entered her mind; There were dark figures she couldn't quite fathom… but she could make out the location— the guild. Looking down at her hands, she saw that she was still herself. She instinctively touched her own chest just to make sure, finding that she was indeed still Lucy Heartfilia.

Something seemed to change as she attempted to move towards one of the shadows in hope that it would provide some explanation for what was going on. Suddenly, only dark thoughts filled her mind. A plethora of strange voices were all mumbling something incomprehensive... to her own ears at least. As Lucy moved closer to the shadow, she was able to make out who it was. "Master?"

Master Makarov's welcoming grin immediately altered into something a little more than a frown. A longer look and his expression appeared as a look of terror; But what she couldn't understand was what he could have been terrified of. She glanced down as her hands out of curiosity, seeing that they weren't by her side anymore. Somehow they'd moved to circle around the Master's neck, restricting him of air.

It was then that she found herself screaming again.


End file.
